- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S unemployment rate went up to a four-month high in December as some of the country’s states imposed fresh virus curbs to deal with the surging numbers of cases.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the unemployment rate went up to 7.91 per cent in the final year of 2021 from seven per cent in November, going up both urban and rural areas, according to data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy Pvt Ltd (CMIE), a private research organisation.
The rise in unemployment rate signals sustained dangers for the Indian economy which is expected to record the world’s fastest growth in the 2021-22 fiscal. Official estimates due Friday (7) are likely to forecast an expansion of 9.5 per cent, compared to 7.3 per cent contraction last year as the government enforced strict restrictions to contain the coronavirus pandemic which has shown signs of revival.
On Monday (3) added more than 33,000 Covid cases – the highest single-day figure in more than three months, pushing the tally of cases to almost 35 million.
A number of states such as West Bengal, Haryana and Maharashtra besides the national capital of New Delhi have put fresh restrictions to deal with the situation.
Bloomberg added that the youth have found themselves out of the labour market globally. In a country where about a million people enter the job market every month, the unemployment rate has remained well above six per cent despite the economy rebounding from the depths of the crisis.
Unemployment data from the CMIE, which are based on surveys, are most widely used by economists and researchers since India lacks reliable, nationwide official job figures, a situation that the country’s government aims to resolve soon.
